InSight Crime proudly presents the result of a two-year investigation into timber trafficking...

Weekly InSight
September 18, 2020 ([link removed])
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InSight Crime proudly presents the result of a two-year investigation into timber trafficking, one of the Americas' most under-reported criminal economies. The project, which was done in conjunction with American University's Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS ([link removed]) ), mapped trafficking groups in four countries: Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Peru. From the low-level loggers to the fixers to the timber barons, the investigation illustrates that laundering illegal timber works with and depends on government officials at nearly every level.

In other news this week, InSight Crime looked at lesser-known forms of criminal ingenuity, including the theft of yucca cacti in Mexico, the black-market sale of antiviral drug remdesivir in Venezuela, and the smuggling of Haitian migrants to Chile during the pandemic.


** Featured
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** Timber Trafficking Investigation ([link removed])
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Over the last two years, InSight Crime has investigated the dynamics of timber trafficking in four countries: Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. The corruption of public officials, the complicity of police forces, partnerships with drug traffickers and the weakness of protection mechanisms have contributed to the systematic plunder of the continent’s pristine natural wealth being carried out with almost total impunity.

Across extensive fieldwork in the four countries involved, InSight Crime interviewed dozens of government officials, members of security forces, academics, smugglers, landowners and local residents, among others.

Read the entire series > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** Brand-Name Coronavirus Drug Appears in Venezuela’s Black Market ([link removed])
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A black market for an antiviral drug used to treat coronavirus has emerged in Venezuela, revealing that even expensive...

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** Yucca Cacti Theft Illuminates Mexico’s Hidden Plant Trafficking Problem ([link removed])
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Theft of yucca cacti from indigenous communities in Mexico’s...

Human Smugglers Continue to Cash In on Haitian Migrants ([link removed])
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Indigenous Leaders Slain in Peru Amid Pandemic ([link removed])
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US Chemicals Help Fuel Mexico Drug Production: Report ([link removed])
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Costa Rica Boosts Plan to Track Vessels, Combat Illegal Fishing ([link removed])
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** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

Browse by country > ([link removed])
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** Juárez Cartel ([link removed])
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The Juárez Cartel is responsible for smuggling tons of narcotics from Mexico into the United States throughout its long...
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** Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG) ([link removed])
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The Jalisco Cartel New Generation is a criminal group that...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
SEP 8, 2020
SMALL WARS JOURNAL ([link removed])
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"By InSight Crime’s count, Melgar Díaz is at least the fifth gang leader who has failed to corral the MS13 into a united front across the United States to sell drugs on a massive scale."
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** Impact
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On September 15, InSight Crime Co-director Steven Dudley publicly launched his new book on the MS13 street gang in a web panel discussion led by Camille Mackler ([link removed]) , executive director of Immigration Advocates Response Collaborative ([link removed]) (I-ARC). The talk also featured Sergio Argueta ([link removed]) and Beria Gaxiola ([link removed]) , officials with STRONG Youth ([link removed]) , a family-youth advocacy group based in Long Island, New York. Discussions included the gang’s ability to drift from El Salvador to Long Island because of a range of social, economic and migratory factors; over-policing in schools that unfairly targets students who migrated from Central America; and how the gang attracts alienated youth who find in it a surrogate family.

“At what point are we blaming all the individuals and accepting the collective guilt that we have for laying the foundation for these gangs,” Dudley said, “not just to emerge, but thrive over a 40-year period?”
Learn more about the book > ([link removed])


** Our Trending topics
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GANG TRUCE ([link removed])
MS13 ([link removed])
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME ([link removed])
COVID-19 and OC ([link removed])

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